The Ultimate Deal or No Deal Tactics For Selling Your Home Now.
You decide that you want to sell your home.
You make the odd touch-up and get everything looking Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion.
Now it’s time to put your property on the market.
Here’s where the Deal or No Deal game begins; tactics are very important.
You will have heard phrases such as a “Sellers’ market” or a “Buyers’ market”.
As a seller you have the freedom to be more bullish on the asking price; but as a buyer, you may need to be more cautious.
There are too many buyers in most parts of the country at the moment (London always seems to be the exception) who fail to price properties realistically, some might say they can be a tad aggressive in their judgements.
As quoted by The Guardian, Rightmove predicted that asking prices will increase by 6% over the coming year; as the demand grows, so does the price.
This makes the property ladder a lot steeper for buyers. The increase of rates will ultimately impact credit, thus elbowing a lot of buyers out of the game.
Lucian Cook stated that due to the rule changes following the mortgage market review in April 2014, the likelihood of returning to the £1.65m profit made from house sales before the credit crunch is unlikely.
Cook concludes by saying that all of these factors will mean that people may avoid moving home so frequently. Our local property blogger, Neil Artingstall has found that fewer and fewer people in Chipping Sodbury and Yate are purchasing houses partly due to the increasing costs of buying a home. You can read more about it here.
This relates to our previous blog which discussed the predictions of the housing market in 2016. Independent Estate Agent, Stuart Mackendrick said:
“The double effect of the Government’s Help to Buy and Stamp Duty revisions are the cause of rising prices during the past two years, not the activity of rental investors and the hobbling of investment buyers. In my opinion, it will be extremely negative and potentially very dangerous for the future.”
Therefore, if you’re selling your home in 2016, your tactics in the housing market game are vital.
Advice: Don’t Show Your First Offer The Door.
An Estate Agent’s purpose is to create interest in your property and to persuade potential buyers to view. The “proof of the pudding” is whether you get an offer on your property and how quickly.
Your ideal scenario is for one of the early viewers, (yes, it might even be the first) to make an offer.
So our advice is: Don’t show your buyer’s first offer the door if it is below asking price. Like on Deal or No Deal, it may actually be the highest offer you receive, rather than the first of many escalating offers.
How much is my home really worth?
When clients ask us for advice on whether a property is valued correctly, we always tell them to find out how long the property has been on the market.
In the present market conditions, how long a property has been on the market is a determining factor in how it should be valued.
Good properties in the right locations and keenly priced will not stay on the market for long. If you’re fresh to the housing market, then you are at an advantage. Ultimately, your chances decline as time goes on.
If you miss the early market and your house remains unsold for a month or two, it is a sign that the asking price does not meet with buyers’ expectations.
If you need some advice on how to decide a realistic price for your home in the Bristol or Bath area, have a look at this blog from Howce Estate Agents.
If you have received an offer after your house has been on the market for a considerable amount of time, it is unlikely to be anywhere near your original asking price. At this point, you’re into your last nail-biting moments of your Deal or No Deal home-selling game.
Can you afford to turn down an offer now?
We all know that greed has the repeat effect of dragging down contestants on Deal or No Deal, so take some advice from that; don’t be part of the 1p club!
Be realistic and rational and don’t blow your Buyer out of the water and dismiss their offer as “derisory”. If you feel you really cannot countenance the offer, then ask yourself if you are really that serious about selling in the first place.
In both instances, your Estate Agent will earn their commission by negotiating a price that will be nearer to the asking price for you.
If you’re selling this Spring, think very seriously about any offer you receive.
For more advice on preparing for your sale and tackling the conveyancing process, download your Free First-Bites E-Book:
